IFAD funds poverty-reduction measures in Afghanistan, Bhutan

22-Dec-2015 - Last updated on 22-Dec-2015 at 05:41 GMT

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide millions of dollars in funding to reduce rural poverty and increase the incomes of thousands of households and smallholder families in south Asia.

The UN agency has signed a US$48.5m agreement with Afghanistan to help ensure the food security and improved economic status of thousands of Afghan families who suffer from frequent food shortages.

The Support to National Priority Programme, which has been designed to improve livelihoods and access to food for approximately 57,000 households in Balkh, Herat and Nangarhar provinces, will provide the IFAD financing. A microfinance investment support facility will provide a further US$2.5m, while the government will contribute US$3.8m

The initiative will focus on strengthening Afghanistan's institutional capacity to provide agricultural development services, as well as improve productivity and the supply chain to increase smallholder farmers' incomes.

It will also help kuchi nomadic herders and rural women engage in crop production and livestock management.

"Three-quarters of the Afghan population lives in rural areas, and 40% of rural households suffer from shortages of food," said Omer Zafar, IFAD’s country program manager.

"Supporting improved access to food and economic opportunities is fundamental in the effort to lift Afghanistan out of poverty."

The contribution is the fund’s first initiative in a 15-year programme to support the country’s rural development efforts.

IFAD will also provide US$14.4m through a loan and two grants to implement an agricultural development programme in Bhutan that will focus on marketing and climate resilient farming practices in 10 provinces.

Poverty in the Himalayan kingdom is overwhelmingly a rural phenomenon, with nearly 95% of its poor living outside cities.

Designed to ensure increased returns for smallholder farmers through climate resilient production of crops and livestock products, IFAD’s development programme hopes to benefit 28,975 smallholder households, of which 7,115 will directly gain from vegetable and dairy value chains.

The programme will help transform Bhutan’s subsistence-based agricultural economy into a more vibrant rural economy with well-established dairy and vegetable value chains that respond to market demand, IFAD said.